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Posts Tagged ‘small business’

Some biz advice a resale shopkeeper can REALLY relate to.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on September 9, 2013|

Clean your business closet too, urges Too Good to be ThrewThis business coach suggests (more…)

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How to tell when you NEED a staffer

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on August 26, 2013| 3 Comments »

One of the causes of slow growth in consignment, resale and thrift shops is easy to diagnose:

Not enough hours in the day.

If you feel like you’re continually spending non-open hours in your shop playing catch-up, or if you find yourself getting impatient with shoppers or suppliers because your to-do list is getting longer by the day, it’s time to hire some help.

But hiring is scary. How can you justify adding payroll to your business overhead when you’re still not making a living yourself?

Some advice from Team Work: Staffing your Store

How to tell when you NEED a staffer

There are always warning signs that you need a staffer, or another staffer. The trick, of course, is recognizing these signs and acting on them before you start damaging your business, your income, or the morale of the other people involved in your shop.

Teamwork: Staffing your Store from Too Good to be ThrewMolly wrote:
We have been open for 6 months. The shop has been very well received. We’re still not making a profit. However, with the increase in customers we can no longer process much consignment during the day. I’m absolutely scrambling to keep up with processing. I often come in at 11pm when my kids are in bed and work until 3 or 4am. As a last resort I reverted to being closed on Mondays to catch up. I am trying to convince my husband that hiring a person will pay off in increased sales. He says my problem is that I’m not being firm enough in saying “No” to new consignment. I really disagree. Each consignment is a potential goldmine. I say my problem is not getting too much, but just figuring out how to process it quickly and sell enough of it. My husband is very reluctant to spend money on an employee. What do you think?

Marriette answered:
Do you do everything yourself, from checking the merchandise in to putting the
merchandise out? Plus take care of customers? When I started getting
overwhelmed with merchandise, I hired someone. Their responsibilities are to
wait on customers and put out merchandise. I do the sorting and processing.
They do the hanging and putting it out.

This is a great start to figuring out not only that you need help, but that it’s costing you. Working four or five hours past normal store hours? Closing a day a week? Both of those options are costing you way more money than any staffer could possibly cost you. Marriette suggests the next most important step: determining just what areas of your business you need help in. After all, how can you find someone to help the shop prosper, if you can’t define what it is you need a helper to do?

But can I AFFORD paid help?

Read more in Team Work: Staffing your Store

 

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Nothing special about my shop, no sirree.

Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on August 22, 2013|

What? You were expecting to see some special event at my consignment or resale shop, just because my web site has a page called Special Events?

Well, sorry. “Nothing (more…)

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Want control over your shop’s web site?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on August 14, 2013| 2 Comments »

Consignment, resale and thrift shops extend their market on the internet

Would a simple blog work for your web site? Read the article below first, then click this pic for Kate’s thoughts

So you want a good-looking site for your consignment, resale, or thrift shop, but more than that, you want it to be easy to change. You have minimal to no interest in learning how to code, you just want to be able to make changes yourself, at 11 at night, right now, in your jammies, when you are doing your internet marketing.

As well you might!

How many shop web sites have you seen that say “Now accepting Spring” on August 1st, or which still (more…)

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Biting the bullet: Really, shopkeeper?

Posted in economics of resale, Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on July 16, 2013| 1 Comment »

Celebrate your consignment shop, revel in your resale shop, toast your thrift!!To “bite the bullet” is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable, or to accept something difficult and try to live with it. Another definition: Accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude.

I heard (that is, read on social media, which is kinda the same thing) a consignment or resale shopkeeper say she’d bitten the bullet, referring to making a business plan. Really? Enduring the resulting pain with fortitude? How’s about

looking forward to a better, easier, more pleasant way

to run her business?

Another resale shop owner emailed me saying she’d “finally bit the bullet” and anted up the less than $1/week to have her shop listed with her peers on HowToConsign.com’s Resale Directory and Zoomable Map. Really, enduring a painful situation seen as unavoidable? I’m glad I’m “unavoidable” but if joining the resale community for less than two bits a day is painful, she must not have been paying attention to the 15 years or so that I’ve been using the Internet to  spread the word about how to have a successful shop. Yikes.

Come on girls, let’s buck up! Doing what’s good for your business, so that you can do what’s good for yourself, your family, your finances and your community, should be

imbibing the champagne

(or nonalcoholic beverage of your choice.) After all, you deserve a toast for furthering the future of your shop…

Look for the celebration of your career, not the misery!

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